Contrabass Digest

2002-06-22

Just found another CD by The Bassoon Brothers -
"Captured"
(2002 Crystal Records
, CD875). Still the usual suspects, including another tromboon feature
as well as a fagottino (the
Wolf tenoroon
). Characteristically tongue-in-cheek, it includes tracks like "Fanfare
for the Common Bassoonist", "Louie, Louie, Roll out the Barrel", "Purple
Haze", etc. One track ("Pigs" by Alan Ridout) is performed completely
on contrabassoons
- a contrabassoon quartet.

Here's one from my Dad, who played bari most of his career. (He's retired
now, and took up the trombone as a hobby - no reeds, no keys, no doubling,
says he should have done it fifty years ago. Yes, fifty.)

One night on a gig many, many years ago his bari started acting up. It played
fine, no problem, for a couple of tunes, then he would lay it down (no stand)
to play clari or alto, and when he picked it up again, NOTHING. No air would
go down it, the thing was just sealed up. He would bang it around a bit,
and it would start working again. This went on for a few days, until finally
the jokers in the trumpet section owned up; one of them had rolled a coin
up the horn, which had jammed up at the top somewhere, but rotated when the
horn was tipped over. When the coin was parallel to the bore, no problem.
When it turned through 90 degrees...

Saw a reference to bari cleaning on one the lists. My gal has found herself
a solution to this. She is a legit clarinetist who is dedicated to swabbing
out every horn, every time, even when she has to play bari. It's like a normal
sax pull-thru, but with a longer string, and on the end a piece of padded
chain, like bath plug chain with cloth around it. Drop the chain down the
bell, hold the pull-thru bit, and tip the sax upside down quickly. The chain
has enough weight to spin itself through the curves, and comes out
where the crook goes. Pull out, and repeat. Presto, dry baritone!

There was a question recently about the brightness and loudness of a
Tubax
. With a baritone mouthpiece, yes, it's brighter than a CB sax. (The bass
sax m'piece is still a work in progress) Volume is a problem, though. At
least, it is for me, so far. Playing in a quartet with tenor, bari and
bass
, I have to blow my a** off to match those guys, and they are taking it easy
on my behalf. What we haven't yet done is take this out of the rehearsal
room, so maybe it will be different on stage. If anybody is looking for a
sax quartet with a difference...

And back to extensions for low clarinets. I can't speak too highly of the
extension that Benedict put on a Vito
BBb bass
for me. Three thumb keys down to low C, with all three toneholes on the
new bell, pointing upwards, and a really good adjustable peg. Great. Wasn't
cheap, but boy, does it work. Photos were around at one time, but I could
take some more, if wanted.

Once upon a time, everyone in this discussion was kind enough to discuss
the music of Matthias Ziegler
, contrabass flute player from Switzerland. Here's a quick & early
announcement of a September tour we're working on for Matthias, who will
perform his excellent solo program:

Some dates & events are fixed, others are still a bit fluid. If
anyone in these areas wants to arrange something with Matthias Ziegler please
write to me directly. I'll post again with complete details as we get
closer to the dates.

Good story. The dumbest thing I've had in a horn was a chamois swab in my
contra-alto. I was going to pull it all the way through from the neck to
the bottom, forgetting that the "octave" vent protudes into the bore. Fortunately,
I could just reach the swab with a hemostat (think very long locking pliers).
Even at that, it was touch-and-go - almost cost me a trip to the tech!

Anyway, I remember seeing pictures of your extended bass - that's what set
me thinking about something similar for my contra-alto. It would have to
be something like that - it's hard enough finding a chair the right height
for this thing as it is. I certainly don't need to have the mouthpiece any
further from the floor.